Heat-curable epoxy resin systems having a good reactivity/stability ratio

ABSTRACT

Heat-curable epoxy resin systems comprising 
     (a) at least one epoxy resin, 
     (b) at least one polycarboxylic acid anhydride, and 
     (c) 1,4-diazabicyclo(2,2,2)octane or a C 1  -C 4  alkyl-substituted derivative of 1,4-diazabicyclo(2,2,2)octane as curing accelerator, and 
     wherein one portion of the curing accelerator (c) is replaced by 
     (d) a complex of a boron halide with an amine, 
     have good reactivity at elevated temperatures and comparatively high stability at temperatures below c. 80° C.

This is a DIVISIONAL of application Ser. No. 08/512,044 filed Aug. 7, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,886 which is a Continuation-In-Part of application Ser. No. 08/399,687 filed Mar. 7, 1995, now abandoned.

EXAMPLE 1

100 g of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (epoxy value 5.2 eq/kg) are homogeneously mixed with 79.8 g of a mixture of methyltetrahydrophthalic anhydride isomers (0.85 mol of anhydride/epoxide equivalent) and with each of the amounts of 1,4-diazabicyclo(2,2,2)octane (DABCO) indicated in Table 1 below and boron trichloride-octyl dimethylamine complex.

The mixtures are tested to determine the following values: the time for the viscosity to reach 1500 mPa-s at a temperature of 80° C. (viscosity build-up according to DIN 53015/Hoeppler falling-ball viscosimeter; sample c. 10 ml), the Gelnorm gelation time (15 ml sample) according to DIN 16945, Sheet 1, using a Gelnorm® gel timer (supplied by GEL INSTRUMENT AD, CH), as well as the softening temperature T_(g) according to IEC Standard 15a of the Int. Electrotechnical Commission using a Mettler TA 3000® (heating up rate 10° C./minute; weighed sample c. 30 milligrams). The values measured are also shown in Table 1.

                  TABLE 1     ______________________________________     Example No. 1.1     1.2     1.3    1.4   1.5     ______________________________________     Amounts of DABCO                    0.7     0.5     0.35                                        0.2   0.0     in grams     BCl.sub.3 /(CH.sub.3).sub.2 N(C.sub.8 H.sub.15)-                    0.0     0.2     0.35                                        0.5   0.7     complex     Viscosity build-up                 150     205     270    --*   --*     [min]     Gel time ** at     80° C.                 3h46'   5h20'   6h33'  9h08' 27h06'     100° C.                 52'50"  1h06'   1h24'  1h36' 2h48'     140° C.                 3'43"   5'42"   5'38"  6'34" 8'22"     T.sub.g [°C.]                 133     132     134    131   127     ______________________________________      *not measured      ** ' = minutes;      " = seconds

EXAMPLE 2

100 g of a mixed diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A and bisphenol F (epoxy value of the mixture 5.65 eq/kg) are homogeneously mixed with 80 g of a mixture of methyltetrahydrophthalic anhydride isomers (0.85 mol of anhydride/epoxide equivalent), 11 g of polyethylene glycol 400 (molecular weight 400), 0.2 g of 1,4-diazabicyclo(2,2,2) -octane and 0.5 g of boron trichloride-octyl dimethylamine complex and quartz powder W 12 to a composition that contains 65% by weight of quartz powder.

The epoxy resin system has the following properties:

    ______________________________________     Gel time at     ______________________________________      80° C.       7h30'     100° C.       1h50'     140° C.       7'37".     ______________________________________

The following properties are determined after a cure of 4 hours at 100° C. and 10 hours at 140° C.:

    ______________________________________     T.sub.g (determined as in Example 1)                            90° C.;     flexural strength.sup.1                            151 N/mm.sup.2 ;     modulus of elasticity  11060 N/mm.sup.2 ;     from flexural test.sup.1     impact strength.sup.2  11 kJ/m.sup.2.     ______________________________________      .sup.1 according to ISO 178; specimen measuring 60 × 10 × 4      millimeters      .sup.2 according to ISO 179/ID; specimen measuring 60 × 10 ×      millimeters

The gel time at 80° C. of this composition is accordingly more than twice, and hence the pot-life is also more than twice, that of a similar epoxy resin composition containing benzyl dimethylamine as curing accelerator, while the other data listed above are at least as good as those of a similar composition containing benzyl dimethylamine. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A process for fabricating molded objects using a heat-curable epoxy resin system comprising (a) at least one epoxy resin, (b) at least one polycarboxylic acid anhydride, and (c) a combination of (1) 1,4-diazabicyclo(2,2,2)octane or a C₁ -C₄ alkyl-substituted derivative of 1,4-diazabicyclo(2,2,2)octane and (2) a complex of boron trichloride with N,N-dimethyloctylamine as a curing accelerator, wherein the weight ratio of (1) to (2) ranges from 8/92 to 75/25 , which comprises mixing at least some of the epoxy resin and at least some of (b) and (c) at a temperature below the curing temperature, and introducing said mixture under normal or elevated pressure, into a mold in which the temperature is sufficiently high to effect cure of the resin molding material.
 2. A process according to claim 1, wherein uncured resin molding material is continuously introduced into the mold in such an amount as to compensate for any shrinkage of the resin molding material in the mold occurring in the course of the cure. 